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I attended an Ivy League school and I am part of several Alumni and social groups, but one tops -by far- all others in terms of benefits I have received from being a member.

I reached out to many people in the past, when I needed some favor, from MBA school alumni, undergraduate, and even high-school classmates. But it was the man who inspired the existence of this group to help me the most and the fastest.

I am talking of the Militia Angelica (“Angelic Warfare”) and of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the man behind the group. Joining is free, and the benefit of being a member is incredible strength in preserving purity. “Incredible” given the temptations to which we are constantly exposed. This is my testimony and I wish any Catholic knew about it too.

At the end of his remarkable life, Saint Thomas Aquinas made what is called a “general confession”— reviewing his whole life to a priest. G.K. Chesterton relates the incident: “The confessor, who had been with him in the inner chamber, ran forth as if in fear, and whispered that his confession had been that of a child of five.”

Aquinas’ confessor experienced what numerous souls came to realize during and after the saint’s lifetime: here was a man gifted not only with one of the most profound intellects in history, but also with a manner of life that radiated childlike innocence and purity. Indeed, Pope Leo XIII affirmed that the Angelic Doctor’s title derives “no less from his genius than from his innocence.”

How It All Started

The Angelic Warfare Confraternity arose from one particular incident in the life of the saint. After deciding to become a Dominican at the age of 19, his noble family was distressed at the decision, strongly desiring him to stay nearer to home and become a respected abbot of the local Benedictine monastery. Aquinas remained firm in his decision, and requested that his superiors transfer him to Paris where he could be free from the influence and pressure of his family.On his way to Paris, his mother sent two of his brothers to intercept him, which they did by force, eventually locking him in a castle. After continued efforts at persuasion by his mother and sisters had no effect, his brothers devised a wicked plot: they introduced a courtesan (a woman of ill-repute), into his cell to try to tempt him out of his vocation.

The young Thomas immediately seized a burning brand from the fire, chased the woman out, and slammed the door while emblazoning a cross on it. Immediately he dropped to his knees and thanked God for preserving his chastity, praying that this gift would endure. He then fell into a kind of mystical sleep, and two angels bestowed upon him a cord which he wore until his dying day. He finally relayed its existence and the whole episode to his deathbed confessor.

The Early Days

First in monasteries, then among the faithful, the custom developed of wearing a cord under the patronage of Saint Thomas as a special sign of one’s resolution to maintain a chaste life. By the 1500’s this practice became more general, as nuns at the convent of St. Margaret in Vercelli — to whom Aquinas’ cord had been entrusted — began to distribute cords to the faithful which had been touched to the miraculous cord. The practice became especially popular among college students seeking help in resisting the temptations of university life.Fr. Deurwerders is the Dominican generally credited with founding the first Society of Angelic Warfare. In 1649 he made a pilgrimage to Vercelli and gathered all the information on the devotion around the cord he could. He then returned to the Catholic University of Louvain and, with permission of the local bishop, organized a solemn high mass, after which the dean of the faculty prostrated himself to receive the cord. Then, two by two, all the professors and students of the theology faculty did the same. Thousands of souls became members of the confraternity on that first day, a kind of new Pentecost ordered to solidifying chaste living in a chaotic world.

Official Approval

Pope Benedict XIII gave the confraternity official ecclesial approval in 1727, and numerous souls — even many saints — have become members of this confraternity through the years. Saint Aloysius, Saint John Calasanctius and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati are just some examples. Pius XI in Studiorum Ducem (1923) gave one of more recent papal exhortations, writing that “inasmuch as we see the majority of young people caught in the quicksands of passion, jettisoning holy purity and abandoning themselves to sensual pleasures, we exhort you to propagate everywhere…the society of Angelic Warfare, founded under the patronage of Thomas for the preservation and maintenance of holy chastity.”

Benedict also granted permission to wear, instead of the traditional cord, a medal inscribed on one side with an image of Our Lady of the Rosary, and on the other with Saint Thomas being girded by the angels. Various indulgences have been attached to membership and its practices.

The Confraternity in Modern Times

It is not an accident that the devotion of the cord sprang up in the Church precisely when Europe and Christian civilization was becoming more influential, urbanized and commercial. The medieval cities to which the original Dominicans were sent to preach tended to be hotbeds of political intrigue, economic ferment and moral temptation and vice. Our own age too — far more technologically and commercially developed than any medieval could have imagined — has seemed to take special delight in throwing traditional morality to the winds, especially in the area of chastity.

The well-known sexual revolution of the 1960s has sown widespread confusion in relationships, marriages and the social and moral development of young people. The sons and daughters of the Church today, no less than in previous ages, need every help possible to lead strong, chaste lives. The Angelic Warfare Confraternity continues to offer such help under the powerful patronage of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Jesus says in response to some of my thoughts: “Lucifer is intelligent as well as cunning. Uses cunning to undermine, but intelligence to think about whether and when and how to give Me pain and ruin a creature. Believe Me that he never wastes his time unnecessarily.

So, given that, as he is ubiquitous on earth, has much to do with the many men who inhabit the globe. Man’s little attention and resistance to do good, make the power of Lucifer, which is already big, even bigger. However, I say to you, he must still calculate his time well and not lose a moment to work with profit. With his nefarious purpose that is to fatten his hell of stolen treasures to God: souls. He is truly a tireless worker. In Heaven, the Tireless works in your best interest. In Hell, the tireless works evils against you. And I say to you that he has more luck than God: his conquests (Editor: of souls), are more numerous than mine. But, you can well understand from My premise, that, being cunning, intelligent, and busy, He cannot afford the luxury of dealing with all souls equally. And he does not. Oh! His evil is an ascetic idea that he pursues, all voted to it, and he does not get distracted, nor by transactions, nor fatigue! If just you, men, pursued the good with the same intensity with which Satan pursues the evil! But you don’t.

Lucifer, as a human being starts growing in intelligence, initially cares very little, it only looks at them as probable future goats of its infernal flock; as a creature starts to know how to think, that is when older than seven years, it increases its attention and begins its teaching. The angelic ministry instructs and leads spirits with words of light. The satanic ministry instructs and instigates spirits with words of darkness. It is a struggle that never ends. Winner or loser one, winner or loser the other, the angel of light and the angel of darkness fight around a spirit to the last mortal blow, to tear him away from the other, returning that soul to his Lord, in the light, after he has had her in protection all of earthly day, or drag her into darkness if it was the other to eventually win. But between the two that fight, there is a third and the most important character. There is the man for whom the two fight. The man, who is free to follow his own will and is endowed with intelligence and reason, has the incalculable force of Grace that Baptism has given him and that the Sacraments maintain and increase.

Grace, you know that, is the union of the soul with God. So it should give you a lot of strength and make you unbreakable and incorruptible to satanic pitfalls and corruptions, because the union with God should make you like semi-gods. But to remain as such, one must want it. You need to tell Satan and to yourself: “I belong to God, and I want to belong to God only”. Thus obedience to precepts and counsels, thus continuous effort to follow and chase and achieve the good, and an ever growing good, thus absolute loyalty and constant vigilance, thus heroism to win themselves and the outside in the seductions of threefold concupiscence and its multiple faces. Few, very few, too few souls know how to do these things. So? So to these souls, so easy to take whenever he wants, so inert to escape when they have been taken, Satan gives little care. He does like the cat with the mouse. He takes them, strangles them a little, stuns them and then lets them go, then simply gives them another hit and bite if they show signs of a timid escape. Not more than that. He knows that they belong to him and does not waste much time with them, nor much intelligence.

But with “My” people! Oh! With my own he is different! They are the prey that most tickles his livid hunger. They are the impossible to take. And Satan, like an experienced hunter, knows that there is merit in capturing a difficult prey. They are the “joys” of God. And Satan makes great party when he can give pain to God, and make Him feel hurt and disappointed. He lives of hatred. Just like God lives of love. He is Hatred. As God is Love. Hatred is his blood. Like Love is mine. Here he is then, multiplying care and monitoring around a soul that is “mine.” Entering into a fortress which is already dismantled is a child’s play. He, the fierce king of hell, does not want that. He wants God’s strongholds, the clean and smooth fortresses, clear as crystal, strong as steel, which on all sides show the most holy Name: God, carved deep into its recesses – indeed it is as fluid that leaks out from the recesses, which emanates from the inside to the outside. The name they love, serve, speak with the spirit of adoration, with every beat of their heart. Pick them up, pick you up, tear you away from Me, erase from your threefold being of spirit, flesh and reason, that Name; make you, flowers of My garden, uncleanness for his hell; and laugh, throwing his blasphemous laughter against the divine throne, laugh for his victory against men and God. This is Satan’s joy.

The closer you are to Me, the more he ranges to make you his. And since you are constantly alert and your will is strong, he, the cunning, does not pursue you with the same method used for the others. Instead, he assaults you treacherously, with longer and longer distances in time, at the most unexpected moment and the most unthinkable reasons. He takes advantage of pain, need, abandonment, disappointment, and leaps like a panther on your amazed, heartfelt weakness of the moment, hoping to defeat you then and make up for all the times you’ve defeated him.

Which means does he use? Countless. Which method? Just one. That of a benevolent, liar gentleness, a rational and peaceful word, an appearance of friendship that helps, that wants to help.

Have you been assaulted? And you’ll still be, and many times, and in more and more cunning ways. Oh! What hatred he has for Me and for you! You will have increasingly more assaults; and so cunning as to mislead even the most alert. Alert humanly speaking, though. Because, smile soul whom I love, because simplicity in God, and which is kept as such, is impenetrable to every subtlety. He will scratch you on the outside. But it is an honor for a soldier the scar that marks the flesh and says: “This sign is proof of manly battles”. And the more scars a soldier has, the more the world gives honor to the brave. The same thing happens in spiritual battles. And your wounds, which do not affect the spirit, but only scratch that which is housing of the spirit-king, are your honor. And because of them, you will be honored in Heaven.

In truth I tell you that you call “martyrs” only those who were killed by tyrants. But all my saints are martyrs. Because, to be saints, they had to suffer persecution of Satan and remain faithful. Glory to the winner! Palms are for you in Heaven.

Jesus speaks: “Do you not know, dear daughter, that all the sufferings, which the soul endures, or can endure, in this life, are insufficient to punish one smallest fault, because the offense, being done to Me, who am the Infinite Good, calls for an infinite satisfaction? However, I wish that you should know, that not all the pains that are given to men in this life are given as punishments, but as corrections, in order to chastise a son when he offends; though it is true that both the guilt and the penalty can be expiated by the desire of the soul, that is, by true contrition, not through the finite pain endured, but through the infinite desire; because God, who is infinite, wishes for infinite love and infinite grief. Infinite grief I wish from My creature in two ways: in one way, through her sorrow for her own sins, which she has committed against Me her Creator; in the other way, through her sorrow for the sins which she sees her neighbors commit against Me. Of such as these, inasmuch as they have infinite desire, that is, are joined to Me by an affection of love, and therefore grieve when they offend Me, or see Me offended, their every pain, whether spiritual or corporeal, from wherever it may come, receives infinite merit, and satisfies for a guilt which deserved an infinite penalty, although their works are finite and done in finite time; but, inasmuch as they possess the virtue of desire, and sustain their suffering with desire, and contrition, and infinite displeasure against their guilt, their pain is held worthy. Paul explained this when he said: If I had the tongues of angels, and if I knew the things of the future and gave my body to be burned, and have not love, it would be worth nothing to me. The glorious Apostle thus shows that finite works are not valid, either as punishment or recompense, without the condiment of the affection of love.”

Of the evils which proceed from the blindness of the intellect; and how good works not done in a state of grace are not profitable for eternal life. “[…] Their virtues are dead because all their works are dead, having been performed in mortal sin, and without the light of Faith. They still have the form of holy baptism, but not its light, of which they deprived themselves, through the cloud of sins they have committed, through self-love which has covered the pupil of their eye. To such as these is it said, Those who have faith without works are dead. Wherefore as the dead do not see, neither can such a man see, because the pupil of his eye has been darkened, as I have told thee, nor does he know that he remains in the sins which he has committed. He does not recognize in himself My goodness, whence he has received being and every other grace that he possesses. Therefore, not recognizing Me in himself, he does not hate his own sensuality, but rather loves it, seeking to satisfy his appetite, and so brings forth the dead offspring of many mortal sins.

He does not love Me, and not loving Me, does not love what I love, that is to say, his neighbor, and does not delight in doing what pleases Me, wherein consists true and real virtue, which it pleases Me to see in him, not because such virtue profits me, for nothing can profit Me, I being He without whom nothing is done except sin (which is nothing, inasmuch as it deprives the soul of grace and of Me, Who am Every Good.) It is rather on account of their own profit that the virtues of men please Me, for I have the wherewithal to reward them in ever lasting life.Thou see, then, that the faith of these wretches is dead, because it is without works, those which they perform not meriting for them eternal life, because they are deprived of the life of grace.

Nevertheless, a man should not leave off doing good, either with or without grace, for, just as every sin is punished, so is all good rewarded. The good which is done in a state of grace merits eternal life, and the good done out of grace is rewarded in various ways, as I told thee above; for sometimes I lend them time for repentance, or put into the hearts of My servants to continue intercessions for them, by means of which they often escape from their sins and miseries.

Sometimes, through the disposition of My grace, they receive neither prayers nor time, but are rewarded with temporal things, being treated like animals that are fatted for the slaughter. Therefore such as these, who, having always kicked against My goodness, nevertheless do some good, not in a state of grace, but in sin, and have not profited in their works either by time, or by prayers, or any of the other ways in which I have called them, being reproved by Me for their sins, (My goodness wishing nevertheless to reward their works, that is, that little service which they have done), they are rewarded by Me with temporal things on which they fatten, and, not correcting themselves, they come to eternal punishment.

See, then, how they deceive themselves! Who deceived them? Themselves, because you have taken away the light of living faith, and go on as blinded, groping and clinging to what they touch. And since they do not see that with the blind eye and have placed the affection in transitory things, so are deceived, and do as fools, who look only to gold [Scorpion] and not to the poison.

Know therefore that the things of the world, all its delights and pleasures, if they have them taken, acquired and held, without me, with disordered self-love. They rightly remind of scorpions, that carry the gold in front and behind the poison. There is no poison without gold nor gold without poison; but the first to be seen is the gold, so that no one defends himself from the poison except who is illuminated by the light of faith.”

Devil:“For all you will have to pray a lot, even for those that you consider to be saints. We do not leave anyone alone, nor during their life, nor in time of death. Even those who have walked through the narrow path for all of their lives, can be gravely tempted in the moment of death: we try to create darkness in the soul, and to bring her into despair. You have to pray a lot and for all, not only to help them avoid hell, but also to avoid or at least reduce the time of purification they will spend in Purgatory. It is terrible thing also the Purgatory. It is terrible when the soul separates from the body with death and cannot be welcomed by the Most High because it is not yet fully purified from sins committed in life. Sure, there are people who will avoid the cleansing fire of Purgatory because the Mercy of the Most High will take into account the many sufferings they endured in their lifetime, but also for them death will be terrible. Only in a few cases, by the will of Heaven, death does come with a horrible face. Talk of death in your sermons, now you talk too little about it, and your people continue to live in sin and recklessness. Pray and have prayers said for those that are dying, and for the souls in Purgatory. That’s enough, I have said enough! The holy fear of God must be announced to everybody!”

Exorcist: “Go ahead and tell what Heaven has commanded you to say.”

Devil:“I, Beelzebub, was forced to tell you these things, and I am forced to say again: cultivate this holy and healthy fear of the Most High. All of you have to talk about it: educators to the young people in their care, teachers to their students, and parents to their children. The Pope must talk about it to the whole Church, the bishops to their priests, and religious superiors to consecrated souls. Especially, Priests should talk about it in their homilies, much more than they do now. If you do not preach the fear of the Most High in this life, nothing will be left in the afterlife than terror, the fear of a Judge Who, there, does not forgive, the terror of hell, eternal absence of remedy. Better for you the holy fear in this life, than the anguish of Purgatory in the other, or the eternal terror you would find in hell. (Screams fearfully). I am forced to tell you that this is the truth. Do not believe those who deceive you by saying that the Most High is infinite Mercy and neglect to tell you that He is also infinite Justice.”

Devil:“It is a great success for us that the Church today speaks less and less of the holy and healthy fear of the Most High. Thanks to our subtle work, some priests do not talk about it at all, either because they no longer believe it themselves, or because they feel ashamed and are afraid of coming across as naïve or conservative. On the contrary, nowadays you feel fear for the law, for other men, for humiliation, but you have no traces of any fear for the Most High anymore. We demons have become the greatest preachers of Heaven’s Mercy, but we preach that without talking about justice, and so we bring you off the right path, we make you believe that your sins not only will not take you to hell, but will remain completely unpunished. By hissing in your souls that the Almighty is merciful and not reminding you that He is just (as if Justice denied Mercy) we bring you to not love Him back, but to offend Him without restraint. And that’s what you do more and more often, because, believing in us, you deceive yourself into thinking that you can step on His love, and not pay the consequences.

If you love yourself, if you want to find convincing reasons to not sin, learn how to evaluate things, especially time and eternity, in the light of the holy fear of the Most High. He loves you, but He also wants you to love him back. He invites you to believe strongly in His Mercy, but without underestimating, even minimally, his Justice. Always keep the holy and healthy fear of the Most High, which translates into fear of eternal damnation, of the eternal fire, with which bodies and souls in hell will be forever tortured. That’s enough! I did not mean to say those things! Stay warned that Hell exists!”

Exorcist: “I order you to continue in the name of God.”

Devil:“None of you can go to hell without knowing it. That there are opportunities and a serious risk of eternal damnation you have been warned and reminded of on many occasions by the Most High. Priests in particular are warned frequently, because you have closer contact with the Holy Scripture. But in addition to His written word, the Most High reminds you of the reality of hell, and the risk that exists for anyone to go there, and he does so by speaking in the depths of your consciousness, or in your sleep, or through the death of good or bad people. When you visit a dying man, or one who has just died, and pray for him, saying, “Lord, give him eternal rest, let perpetual light shine on him. May he rest in peace. Amen”, how can you not remember hell? Perhaps in that moment you think about it, but then you go back to your everyday hectic life, and the thought of Judgment of the Most High and hell disappears. When someone is dying, you should think that this is the time the last card is played for that soul: around the dying person there are also present, like vultures, many evil spirits that do everything they can to drag that soul to hell with them. And seeing a dying man, you should think that one day it’s up to you to die, undergo the Judgment, and see yourself accepted or rejected by Heaven. God’s Mercy continues to remind you of that!

The Almighty never fails to call you back, as any good mother would do to save her children away from danger. In His mercy, He is willing to forgive all your sins, because He wants no one to be lost. What did He not do for you during His life on Earth, His passion and terrible death? Nothing He left out back then, and nothing He leaves out today for your salvation. If the Almighty has done and is doing so much to save you, this is confirmation that there is for you the risk of getting lost. And if the Most High does not underestimate this risk you run, you must not underestimate it either, in your own interest. But you have not yet learnt to love yourself! Remind these truths to yourself, and do not neglect to remind them to others. Until one is still alive, he has a chance to save himself, as long as he says, “Have mercy, Lord, have mercy on me.” But when the soul separates from the body there is no chance; at that same moment Judgment takes place: in a flash, he will see his entire life and will have to answer for it to the Almighty. And woe to that soul that has not purified herself in time, with a sincere repentance of all her sins: She will experience from that moment and for all eternity the wrath of the just Judge. The only thing that the supreme Judge will offer at that point to such soul is to let her go to hell, away from him. It would be a more terrible punishment for that soul if, in those conditions of stubborn sin, she had to stay in heaven: the sight of the Most High, His angels, His saints, full of grace, clothed with glory and full of joy, would be a torture greater than all the pains she will suffer in hell.”

“…I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end without realizing it. And at the end of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And their number was so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings”. (Diary 153)
“Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it, a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger; the fifth torture is conditional darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of satan, the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies. These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. There are special tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me. Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like. I, sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence. I cannot speak about it now; but I have received a command from God to leave it in writing. The devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God. What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell. When I came to, I could hardly recover from the fright. How terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God’s mercy upon them. O my Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, then offend You by the least sin.” (Diary 741).

“…I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames, which were burning them, did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls call Her “The Star of the Sea”. She brings them refreshment. I wanted to talk with them some more, but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. We went out of that prison of suffering. [I heard an interior voice which said] ‘My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it. Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls.” (Diary, 20)

“November 27, 1936. Today I was in heaven, in spirit, and I saw its unconceivable beauties and the happiness that awaits us after death. I saw how all creatures give ceaseless praise and glory to God. I saw how great is happiness in God, which spreads to all creatures, making them happy; and then all the glory and praise which springs from this happiness returns to its source; and they enter into the depths of God, contemplating the inner life of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whom they will never comprehend or fathom. This source of happiness is unchanging in its essence, but it is always new, gushing forth happiness for all creatures. Now I understand Saint Paul, who said, “Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, not has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him.” And God has given me to understand that there is but one thing that is of infinite value in His eyes, and that is love of God; love, love and once again, love; and nothing can compare with a single act of pure love of God. Oh, with what inconceivable favors God gifts a soul that loves Him sincerely! Oh, how happy is the soul who already here on earth enjoys His special favors! And of such are the little and humble souls. The sight of this great majesty of God, which I came to understand more profoundly and which is worshipped by the heavenly spirits according to their degree of grace and the hierarchies into which they are divided, did not cause my soul to be stricken with terror or fear; no, no, not at all! My soul was filled with peace and love, and the more I come to know the greatness of God, the more joyful I become that He is as He is. And I rejoice immensely in His greatness and am delighted that I am so little because, since I am little, He carries me in His arms and holds me close to His Heart. O my God, how I pity those people who do not believe in eternal life; how I pray for them that a ray of mercy would envelop them too, and that God would clasp them to His fatherly bosom…”(Diary 777).
Source: Saint Faustina Kowalska, Diary

Jesus says:”You must be able to tell the difference between an idle word and a useful one. A word is idle, and sin generally flourishes in idleness, when one speaks of other people’s faults with someone who can do nothing about them. Then it is plainly lack of charity, even if what one says is true. As it is lack of charity to reproach someone more or less sharply without giving advice at the same time. And I am referring to just reproaches. The others are unfair and they are a sin against our neighbour. But when one sees one’s neighbour commit sin, and one suffers because that person offends God and injures his soul, and one realises that one cannot estimate the gravity of someone else’s sin, neither does one feel wise enough to speak words that may work a conversion, and then one applies to a just and wise person confiding one’s anxiety, then one does not commit sin, because one’s disclosure aims at putting an end to a scandal and at saving a soul. It is the same as if one had a relative suffering from a shameful disease. One will certainly try to conceal it from people, but one will go secretly to a doctor and say: “My relative is suffering from so and so and I do not know how to advise and cure him. Please come or tell me what I must do”. Does one in that case lack love for one’s relative? No. On the contrary one would lack love if one feigned not to notice the disease and allowed it to progress and bring about death, through a mistaken feeling of prudence and love.”